Tuesday, June 28, 2011

We slept for 12 hours our first night in Barcelona. (On Monday, June 13th!) When we wandered out of our hotel for coffee, we found an adorable panderia (bakery) across the street, called "Bellapan". We ordered danishes and cafe con leche for breakfast before walking down Av del Paral.lel.

While trying to find the cable cars to Barceloneta, we took the Funicular de Montjuic. When we got to the top, it was a pleasant surprise to arrive at a lovely hillside and park. As we wandered around the castle grounds, we saw beautiful flowers (some eaten by pet pigs), and amazing views of the city.

We even saw the cable cars going to the beach peninsula (Barceloneta) but we were having too much fun to leave.

We went into the castle, which was once a prison and torture site during the Franco era!

We mostly enjoyed the fantastic views!

We also enjoyed the sentry towers too!

After wandering past the Font de Magica, which was not on, we found that Quimet y Quimet was finally open! We had an amazing cheese plate with port jelly and nuts. We also had bread drizzled in olive oil! We also had pate on toast with soy sauce and sweet onions! It was lively and standing room only and the perfect way to try new tapas! The walls were lined with many Spanish wines and we even bought a delightful bottle of Sauvignon Blanc called, Torres Fransola. After a brief siesta, we decided to seek out another recommendation from a friend called Tapas 24. Wow, we were in yet another tapas foodie heaven! We had little sandwiches with jamon y queso called, bikinis! We had patatas bravas. The most amazing dish was dessert (postres). It was chocolate pudding with sea salt and olive oil, topped with sweet toasted bread. It was muy delicioso!